TotT 3: Fathers and Sons: A Special Day
by Celestial-Lorekeeper
Summary: And here it is, the thing that prompted me to push Fathers and Sons to completion so quickly, as promised and with a surprise additional chapter! It's a very special day, and Jim wants to make certain that a certain Troll understands what Blinky means to him. Inspiration for each chapter is listed with their individual parts, so many thanks!
1. Chapter 1: Words to Say

((Credit to BigChubbyPanda for the idea - I told you there was a reason I was hammering on Fathers and Sons so hard to get it done! This was it!

"Maybe it's fathers day and Jim starts wondering why his dad really left like was it because he was a bad son? Well blinky reassures Jim that he is a wonderful son and he would be proud of him if he were his dad. So Jim starts thinking and finally decides to get blinks a father's day card." A little variation on the theme, but I hope you like it!

Also a nod to Forever-Furuba for mentioning a little theory in a review about why Jim never really mentioned seeing Blinky like a father even though pretty much everyone else saw it. I borrowed the line and ran with it!

Also, saying this here as well as on the next chapter: The cover art belongs to ask-Blinky (link on the next chapter), kindly allowed to be used on my fic because it do fits! Thank you so much!))

Words to Say

To say it had been some time since Jim had considered this particular thing would be beyond and understatement. In fact the last time he could recall had involved a huge box of crayons and construction paper and what he'd thought at the time were masterpiece art skills.

Feeling a bit daunted the teen looked over the twenty feet or so of shelf at the store, already having been standing there long enough for his legs to ache and to feel like a complete idiot who probably had the entire employee roster looking at him, wondering if he was trying to steal something. Absently he picked up yet _another_ , looked it over, then frowned and put it back.

"This is hopeless!" he growled to himself, running a hand through his hair.

"Is there something I can help you with?" a female employee asked as she started to pass by.

"Not really," Jim muttered. She glanced at him then at the shelf and smiled, clearly not put off by his tone.

"Yeah, we have quite a lot to choose from. Not finding one that's right?" Jim shook his head.

"Not even close!" The young woman looked at him a moment more, then smiled.

"Well, I have a suggestion?" She motioned Jim to follow her around to the other side, pulled something from a shelf there, and handed it to him. "Maybe something like this? More work on you, but if the companies aren't saying it right, then maybe you can yourself!" Jim looked at her offered prize and at the others in the category, then smiled.

"Yeah, maybe! Thanks!"

"No problem! Anything else I can help with?"

"Nah, I think I'm good now. "

"Okay - good luck!" She continued on her task and Jim resumed his hunting.

00000

A couple days later Jim snuck into the library a bit earlier than he was expected for training. The Trollhunter was nervous, for an entirely different reason than usual. He peered around - empty library - and wasn't sure if he was glad or disappointed. Finally he decided just to do it, and slipped quietly over to a stack of books on the table, sliding something between two volumes then hurrying to the Forge.

00000

Blinky was running late to training today. Vendel had wanted to get a look at his shoulder. While it was feeling fine to the scholar by this point for a Troll to get shot but a human bullet was something of unknown territory, so the Trollmarket leader was being cautious.

But the prognosis was favorable and he'd been released with simply a request that should his arm or shoulder begin to feel oddly to return to Vendel post-haste. So the Troll was just making a quick stop by the library to pick up some reading material he intended to pass along to Jim after his physical training was complete. He grabbed the stack of books he'd left on the table...then paused, feeling something lightly poke his arm. There was something slightly sticking out from between two of the books. Curious because he was fairly certain there'd been nothing there before, he carefully pulled the item out with a upper hand.

It was an envelope, with his name the only thing written on it in a familiar hand.

Blinky set down the books and opened the flap, merely tucked in rather than sealed. Inside was a card, the cover of which showed a couple of thick books on a desk and a pen. Blinky smiled and opened it.

Then he had to take a seat in the nearby chair as he felt suddenly weak, and it had nothing to do with his injury. This was a moment when the Troll was especially happy he had four arms because if his lower ones hadn't been able to fold tightly together his upper ones holding the card might have damaged it accidentally. His smile turned tremulous, and his vision blurred until, after reading it through a second time he had to close the card and wipe at his eyes, a free hand pressing to his heart. And that was how Aaarrrggghh found him a few minutes later, peeking in after they had noticed the scholarly Troll was far later than he should have been.

"Blinky?" he quietly spoke up as he entered, confused and concerned.

"I - I am alright, my friend," assured the other, opening his closed eyes. "Just - could you tell Master Jim that I need his help for a moment?"

"Will do!" Aaarrrggghh gave Blinky a small nuzzle, just to make sure he was alright, then departed. Jim arrived a few minutes later to see Blinky standing beside the table, one upper hand resting on the stack of books and the other behind his back, lower hands folded together and smiling.

"Is everything alright, Blinky?" asked the Trollhunter as he crossed the room. "Aaarrrggghh said you needed my help. Is your shoulder bugging you?"

"No. It actually feels perfectly fine. I just - " Throat momentarily locking up, Blinky just pulled his other hand from behind his back, holding the card. Jim gave a sheepish grin, glancing away as he scuffed the ground with a foot before glancing at his mentor out of the corner of his eye.

"I...wanted you to know," Jim finally said, and Blinky set the card on the table before pulling Jim into a hug, one returned equally.

"Thank you, son. I love you."

"You're welcome, dad. I love you too. Happy Father's Day."

 _Dear Blinky,_

 _I couldn't find a card that really said everything the way I wanted to, so I'll just write it myself._

 _I don't know if Trolls have a holiday like this, but there's a day each year -_ _today_ _\- that humans set aside to tell their dads what they mean to them. I haven't had anyone in my life that made today stand out, made it mean something, until now:_ _you_ _. From the moment I became Trollhunter you've stood by me, even when I was scared out of my mind or doing stupid things, even standing against your own people for me. You've given me advice, not just about being the Trollhunter but just about life in general, and what you've said has really stuck with me. And no matter how much I was screwing up you always were encouraging me that I could do it. You saw what I was capable of, and made me believe it._

 _And I can't thank you enough for that._

 _I'm not exactly sure of the exact moment that I started viewing you as a father - I know it was before my birthday when you gave me the Vespa and helped me to build it, though that cemented it - but when it really sank in I admit I was worried that if I said anything it would make things weird. I mean, could a Troll care for a human like that? Or would it be weird? And I think part of me was scared that if I stared relying on you as a dad something would happen. After all my first 'dad' left, and the next person I kinda looked to as a mentor - though not as strongly as I did you - turned out to want to kill me. I've not exactly had good luck with the whole father-figure thing. It's like a jinx. But then there you were, and before I knew it you were like my dad, and I wanted that. A lot._

 _So when you went and fought him, and I heard what you said, and then you were shot I was so scared. I was scared you'd die and wouldn't know how I saw you and I couldn't stand that. I can't lose you any more than I can lose my mom or my friends and I just wanted to say that, in writing so you'd know it even if I wasn't here to say it._ _You're my dad_ _, more than anyone else who even_ _thought_ _they deserved that name, and I'm happy to be your son._

 _I love you, dad. Happy Father's Day_

 _Your Son, Jim_


	2. Chapter 2: Gift from the Heart

((Credit to Ask-Blinky for the inspiration pic! Check out his blogs on Tumblr! And here's the link to the picture set that was used: ask-blinky . tumblr . com(slash)post(slash)174612679345(slash)i-was-going-to-add-text-but-i-think-the-images

He also kindly gave permission for me to use the final image as the cover for this story - Thank you sooooo much!

Also this is post season 3, and at least semi-canon (in obviously that we know next to nothing about what happened after they leave Acadia Oaks). So Troll!Jim, New Trollmarket, all that.

Gift from the Heart

Given the early departure of his biological father and the busy, often varying schedule of his mother, it came as no surprise that Jim had learned a number of domestic skills at a young age compared to his peers. By the time he was a teen he shared laundry duties with his mother, could both clean every room and complete minor home repairs, mowed the grass of his own volition, and often handled the grocery list each week in addition to the cooking he was also famed for among his family and friends.

The one that often went unnoticed, however, was the one that he was now utilizing: Jim Lake, the Trollhunter, could sew.

Jim sat bent over his project on a ledge in the newly-dubbed New Trollmarket, a community all of a year old now and still much under construction beneath New Jersey. The part Troll, part Human was thankful for his new body at the moment, as well as the ways it was unique when compared to other Trolls. His eyesight in the dim light of a phosphorescent crystal was far better than a human's, but his fingers - even the thicker four on his 'Troll hand' - were thin enough to handle the needle and thread. And hey! Stone skin meant no need for a thimble!

Jim had been working on this project in secret whenever he could slip away discreetly for almost the past month now. And finally he was on the last part. Just in time too, if he wanted to give it on the day he'd intended...which just happened to be that very day!

Though he had to admit he felt more than a little nervous about the actual _giving_ part of the whole thing, especially when Jim had no idea how it would be received. Hands down it was not the usual thing that would spring to mind when he thought about a gift for this particular Troll, yet...

Yet it felt exactly right!

Three more stitches, then two, then one, then -

"Done!" He murmured to himself as he unbent his spine with a popping sound. Carefully he tied the final knot, then used his summoned dagger to cut the thread and tucked the needle into the spool for safekeeping before turning the article rightside-out and looking it over.

It was perfect, exactly as he'd imagined and planned!

Excitement decided to war with his nerves, and impulsively he picked up his phone, set nearby on a rock, and fired off a text to his mentor and surrogate-father, Blinky.

 _-Where are you?-_

 _-Trying to figure out how best I can get the shelving space I need in this chamber. Why, is something wrong?-_

 _-No, nothing's wrong. I just have something to show you – I'll come to you.-_ With that Jim stood and quickly made his way down from his hideaway and to find Blinky. At least he knew where to look, given the scholar's reply: though his sleeping and eating chambers had long since been completed Blinky was never quite satisfied with the study-slash-library area, convinced he could manage just an inch more room along this wall or that the planned shelves along another wall could handle being a little bit closer (even though they really couldn't). It was about half-done, and what books that had been salvaged from the Arcadia Oaks Trollmarket or acquired/rewritten anew that had yet to find homes were stacked on the floor in a system only Blinky understood.

Jim was greeted by some of the other Trolls as he went, careful to have his project bundled up securely so no one else could see it, and soon made it to the domicile in question, adjacent to his and Claire's own two-bedroom one. With the familiarity that their close bond permitted Jim just entered without knocking, hearing his mentor's voice from exactly the room he expected, muttering to himself.

"Is that you, Jim?" Blinky called.

"It's me," confirmed the teen as he stepped into the room. Blinky was just straightening from where he had likely been doing some measurements if the knotted rope in his hands was any indication.

Suddenly Jim felt very nervous again, and tucked the object behind his back, trying to make himself look casual.

"The numbers not quite working for you?"

"No, though I'm certain if I can just get this section to cooperate – ah, well, perhaps after a break I'll see things more clearly." Blinky turned to face his surrogate son, and paused; even if Jim really tried it was hard to fully hide what was dangling behind his legs. "Is that what you wanted to show me?"

"Um, well, er... yeah..." With a sheepish smile, Jim crossed the room to the Troll he called his father and somewhat timidly held up the cloth item in front of him, slightly opening it so Blinky could see. And when he did Blinky's upper hands pressed to his cheeks in surprise even as his lower ones folded together from how his heart warmed and tightened at the same time at the sight.

It was a jumper in a very attractive shade of blue, made with four arms and looking almost perfectly his size. And across the front in big, white patch-appliques were the words "#1 Troll Dad."

"Jim..." Blinky was at a loss for words.

"It's – it's Father's Day," Jim explained, "and I saw something like this once online, but I knew it would be impossible to buy one for you because you have four arms. So I... made this one."

"You made it?"

"I had Claire to get the fabric and all for me when she would go topside, but yeah." Blinky blinked a few tears from his eyes and moved forward to wrap Jim in an embrace that his son returned.

"I am both touched, and awed, my son. Thank you so much." Jim relaxed in the hug knowing that the gift was well-received, then handed it over so Blinky could try it on. "Ah, a perfect fit! How did you manage that?" Jim chuckled.

"Well, a little rough guessing and some comparisons to your staff when you weren't looking, and when I was _really_ stuck I asked Toby to borrow Dictatious from the TV and text me the measurements." Blinky laughed, clearly amused by the mental image of his mostly-blind and irritable brother being used as a model back in Arcadia Oaks where he was living still, awaiting completion of Trollmarket.

"I believe this has now become one of my most cherished possessions." Blinky pulled Jim into another hug.

"Happy Father's Day, dad. I love you. "

"Thank you, son. I love you too."

And if the next month Blinky had a gift for Jim, a red jumper more bought than hand-stitched but with painstakingly sewn on appliques reading '#1 Troll Son' well, it was only fitting that they match.


End file.
